It’s somewhere between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., “24”-time, and I’m hung up on the English usage in a scene setting the action into play. Not a good sign, but I can’t get past it.

When you stop the DVR to check syntax, the drama is in trouble. “Liaise,” as in establish contact with, as in be a liason. Okay, now we’ve drifted well beyond the parameters of Jack Bauer saving the day. We’ve lost the suspense and can’t remember what day it is anyway. They’re shooting up a hotel, there’s a dirty bomb in New York and a diplomat’s daughter is on the run. Liaise, Jack, dammit!

“24” used to be a clever commentary on current events–torture to racial profiling to computer espionage. It has become a parody of itself. (I’m thinking of launching a drinking game: every time they say CTU is “still 10 minutes out,” drain your glass.) Fox will be smart to let it end this season; NBC would be foolish to pick it up, as rumored.

Preposterous, even silly. Why, then, does it remain so addictive? Fact is, we thrive on this kind of crazy tension. In the same way “Hurt Locker” illustrated the addictive nature of danger, “24” illustrates the allure of living on heightened alert.

What do you think? Was tonight’s episode weak enough that it could be derailed by weird syntax, or was the suspense good enough to outweigh the silliness? Tired enough to retire or fresh enough to move to another network?

“You got a problem? I need you to keep your head in this!” Jack says.
We’re trying.

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.